Preaching Is Better Than Practising!

How easy it is to preach than to practise! I always preached to the young guys and gals to follow their passion in life, to do their own thing, no matter what. But when it was my own turn to follow my passion of writing, it was 10-days of excruciating dilemma. I had this book in mind which I was struggling to write since 2005 but was unable to make much of a headway bogged down as I was with office and personal work. I was barely able to put together 9,000-odd words in five years, whereas the book was going to be something like 100,000 words. I thought, at the rate I was going,  it would take me more than 50 years to write the book! My 50-plus age did not offer me the luxury of spending 50 years on a single book. So I was really desperate and frustrated with the pathetic pace (but I took care not to show up my desperation and frustration in the office or at home).

Now, I had two options: give up my job and start working on the book full time or drop the idea of writing the book for good. It was a tough call because the decision had to be taken at a juncture when neither my age nor time was on my side - I was 54 and time was running out with each passing day. It was 'now or never' and the stakes were too high: giving up a decent paying job and not taking up another one for at least two years. Which meant I would not be earning even a dime and in fact I would be living off my savings for these two years. It meant risking my career and my savings to follow my passion. It was one hell of a decision to take, and many an agonising moments and prevaricating days later, I finally took the decision. I had already quit my job to take up a new job (more challenging and more rewarding one); instead I decided to work on the book full time!! It was the most difficult and momentous decision of my life and although it came quite late in life, I am glad I did take it. As they say, better late than never!

A few weeks after putting in my papers when I announced my decision to my office colleagues, close friends and relatives, their reactions were mixed. While some of them lauded my "bold and courageous" decision (some even expressing their desire to do the same but not being able to muster the courage to do it), others' reaction were "how could you do this at this age?", "have you given it a proper thought?" or "have you calculated the opportunity cost of not earning for two years?". Needless to say, I had considered all this and more, and that's why it took me 10 days to finally come to a decision to write the book.

Well, I guess it's only my passion and my belief in myself that gives me the courage and the conviction to do my own thing. It was the same passion which gave me the courage to give up my secure and easy-going job at BSES Ltd (now Reliance Energy Ltd) after 13 long years and enter the rough and tumble world of journalism. I relish the freedom to live my life on my own terms. Not for me the humdrum routine life - it's the thrill of living off the edge, a life on a roller-coaster ride that I enjoy the most! After all, I have only one life to live and it's my life and I wouldn't want to live it any other way.

Now that I have walked the talk, I think I can go back to preaching even more!!!